I was Chairman for several terms although the PA Bylaws indicates maximum 2 terms, there can be exceptions.
The role of grassroots is primarily to sell the PAP’s policies to the residents and of course to conduct activities for residents at discounts and to organise MPs’ a.k.a. Guess-of-Honor’s visit/s to the constituency. We are not paid any salary nor allowance but we do have perks such as FREE parking within our constituency (GRC), priority Primary 1 registration for our children, National Day parade tickets, visits to the Istana (National Day open house), free event makan-makan, free visits to the Zoological Gardens, just to name a few.
Chairmen are automatically members of the GRC Executive Committee and Town Council where meetings are champion by MP/MPs. As member of Town Council we are paid a monthly allowance of $300. The allowance is paid via the Town Council funds which is funded by residents.
Free foods and drinks are provided for these meetings.
When there are events, grassroots members attend for free with the exception for National Day Dinner whereby grassroots members pay a token sum of S$10/per member and rest is subsidised by RC funds.
At the beginning of each fiscal year PA would credit S$1,000 to each RC. The RC will then have to organise events for residents with profit in mind. Lost money events are not encouraged. Each RC can also ‘lease’ out their common areas for pasar malam which forms the largest profit for any RCs; between $5,000 and $8,000 depending on location. Excess funds are then channel back to PA.
Annually, MP/MPs will on the pretext of meeting and bonding, invite all RC members and Town Council staffs held outside of Singapore. Location is subject to MP/MPs’ choice. These meetings or outings are usually held from Friday until Sunday and meetings do not last longer than half a day usually the next day (Saturday) with rest of the weekend free and easy. For such outings, MPs’ spouse/s and their children attend for FREE. These expenses (transportation, hotel, meals, sometimes T-shirts) are expensed via the Town Council funds.
Its mandatory for ALL Grassroots members who belong to PAP constituencies must be PAP members.
I was RC Chairman.
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